Parking is a mystery. Many public agencies push for more parking in buildings, but, rather than alleviating the parking problem, it leads to massive traffic jams, severe air pollution, and more road deaths. Under the illusion that density creates congestion, public agencies also control building density. However, it is parking, not density, that creates traffic congestion. Excessive parking supply that is cheap or free induces people to use personal motor vehicles—even when good public transport is provided.

Cities across the world are now realizing their past follies. They now follow a simple mantra— add transit, build density, cut parking. Put another way, where there is good connectivity to mass rapid transit, building density is welcome but parking supply is not. Parking fees are pegged to parking demand—when demand increases, fees also increases. Revenue generated this way is used to build complete streets—with better walking and cycling infrastructure—and expand public transport.

Urban density is a fundamental principle of sustainable development. As the world’s population continues to grow and urbanize, the car-dependent model of the 20th century must change to accommodate a more populous and more prosperous world. This brief lays how well designed density creates vibrant, sustainable urban spaces. Density is one the the Eight Principles for designing urban transport and development.

In the past decade, the world has seen car sharing go mainstream, bike sharing become a global trend, and hundreds of startups stake their claim to reinventing transport. The new systems, collectively known as shared mobility, reflect the rise of both the on-demand and sharing economies. These dual economic phenomena are changing the way everyone from car owners to public transport users make travel choices. This policy brief addresses how shared mobility is affecting the urban transport landscape and suggests ways governments can guide the industry’s growth toward supporting a sustainable, people-centered city.

A growing range of shared mobility systems has emerged to fill gaps in the transport network
by offering ever more nuanced options for different travel needs. These include new options for door-to-door travel, “last/first mile” trips to destinations and nearby transit stations, special trips, and reaching underserved areas. Innovations in payment structures, variable routes, flexible schedules, and vehicle size all contribute to the new diversity of transit choices.

Yet shared mobility is just one of the ways the urban landscape is shifting. As the world’s rapidly growing cities rethink their transport and land use policies, with increased focus on sustainability, transit-oriented development and road safety, both the benefits and shortcomings of shared mobility deserve attention as part of long-term planning.

Parking demands, like other transport demand patterns, operate on a peak and off-peak schedule depending on related land use. Distinct but complementary patterns, such as “office parking” that is generally empty in the evenings and on weekends and “residential parking” that is generally fuller in the evenings, offers an opportunity for cities to better satisfy residents and commuters without increasing supply. Shared parking is a land use/development strategy that optimizes parking capacity by allowing complementary land uses to share spaces, rather than producing separate spaces for separate uses.

In most Indian cities, parked vehicles dominate the public realm by consuming more and more of our cherished parks, plazas, streets and common spaces. Each parking space consumes from 15m2 to 30m2 , and the average motorist uses two to five different parking spaces every day. Hence, many cities are questioning the current parking policy which dedicates scarce public space to car parking.

Parking management is a critical tool for achieving a variety of social goals. This booklet, ‘Park it Right,’ is a brief illustrated guide to the principles of on-street parking management.